Overweight and obesity are some of the most common health and social problems. Millions of people suffer from overweight, which is considered to be a main cause for diseases and early death. In developed countries obesity is becoming a national public health problem because no single treatment is available for treating the condition satisfactorily. The International Health Organization refers to overweight as an epidemic, and has formed a special task force to treat one of the biggest risks threatening human health.
Overweight occurs when there is an excess of energy consumption in relation to energy release. The cause for overweight differ from patient to patient, and it is commonly believed to be associated with several genetic, psychological, social, behavioral and environmental factors.
People who suffer from overweight tend to belong to risk groups prone to stress, obesity associated disorders, heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, gall bladder diseases, sleep death, respiratory problems and depression. The goals of overweight treatment are to reduce the risks of developing related disease or the aggravation of existing ones, to lengthen life expectancy and to improve the way and quality of life. Treating overweight usually involves diets, psychological treatments, psychiatric treatments, and use of drugs, alternative medicine, physical activity and surgical intervention. The challenge of treating moderate obesity is to find an effective approach which is effective in maintaining reduced weight because after weight reduction, people are often prone to regain the weight. This is where behavioral therapy is effective.
In recent years researchers have reached the conclusion that the most successful approach for the treatment of obesity is a multi-disciplinary one. To succeed in the long term, a combination of behavioral therapy (changing eating habits) and other treatments is required. According to the National Institutes of Health's Guide to Behavior Change, slowing the rate of eating to may allow satiety (fullness) signals to begin to be transmitted by the end of the meal. Recent studies show that dietary behavioral modifications and exercise are the most efficient methods for managing body weight. The present invention is related to a device designed to aid weight loss by controlling the amount of food a person bites and the rate of the mastication, e.g. reduces and/or limits the mouth opening and/or slows down the rate of chewing.
Slow and thorough chewing enables better and more complete absorption of the food in the stomach, and decreases the hunger feeling. To the contrary, fast eating promotes incomplete food absorption and encourages the eater to consume more in order to feel satiety. Another way to eat less and feel full is to give the brain time to get the message that the stomach is full. Because it takes 15 minutes or more to get the signal to the brain, eating slowly, as well as chewing and grinding slowly, are effective in this respect.
Oral devices and more specifically dental appliances have been used to control weight by slowing the rate of food mastication. The body is allowed time to respond to the ingestion of food with a sensation of satiety. The user is supposed to feel full after consuming a reduced amount of food. Therefore, the patient eats less and as a result he loses weight.
A number of dental appliances have been described as aiding a user in achieving weight loss through the restriction of mandibular movements.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,771 discloses an oral weight control apparatus. The apparatus includes a guard apparatus, net, or other sieve-like blocking means secured in the mouth of the user. Liquids and finely ground material inside the mouth may freely pass through the guard or sieve but solid foods may not. In the preferred embodiment, the blocking means functions as a one way valve, blocking solid foods from entering the stomach through the mouth.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,881 discloses an apparatus for inhibiting the intake of food. The apparatus comprises first and second spaced adhesive strips applied above and below the upper and lower lips of the user which are interconnected by wires which provide relatively normal movement of the mouth to permit normal speech, while at the same time inhibiting, but not totally preventing the intake of solids and liquids.
is U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,679 discloses a mandibular restraint that includes a pain-inducing device. The pain-inducing device may be a bar shaped element with a thickened portion that is intended to press against the gums or jaws of the patient should the patient attempt to open the mouth beyond a threshold position. Alternatively, or additionally, the pain-inducing device delivers a painful electric shock to the gums or teeth of the patient.
US 2003/0075186 discloses a device for affixing the teeth of a user by engaging a plurality of individual teeth of the mandible with the opposite respective teeth of the maxilla. The affixation is carried out separately for each pair of teeth (upper and lower) involving the application of a resin to anchor an elastic element to the teeth.
US 2003/0059737 four frames are being secured to the upper and lower right and left dental arches and are connected to magnets on each frame.
ES 2164570 discloses a closing system for teeth. It consists of rings that are fixed to the teeth and a chain that will pass through the rings to close the teeth as much as possible and an electronic part.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,611 discloses a method and apparatus for controlling a person's eating behavior using a counter on the table next to the food being eaten. The counter displays the number of bites to be taken at each meal, displays the actual number of bites while the bites are being taken during a meal, provides a cadence signal from which the person can pace his chewing rate, determines the size of the bite taken and the time between bites, and provides an exercise between bites which forces the person to break the eating chain by pushing a button to increment the counter.
Moreover there is known a device known as “Jaws”. Said device joins the upper and lower jaws by a metal wire which is applied by a dentist. However said device is very dangerous and is not allowed for use anymore.
Today it is obvious that losing weight concerns firstly changing eating habits which is done under guidance. None of the above Patents gives a solution for said need.
Moreover in order to insert the restraining device, in some cases a helping instrument is required. A number of helping instruments such as applicators have been described as helping to insert certain devices into the oral cavity but most of them are used by the dentist (usually an orthodontist) to fix said devices on orthodontic appliances or are applicators that help the patient (usually an orthodontic patient) to put orthodontic devices in their proper brackets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,643 describes an orthodontic tool wherein an elastic band can be stretched and affixed onto the hooks of an orthodontic apparatus affixed within the mouth.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,940A describes a dentist's instrument used to facilitate the application of an elastic arch wire-retaining band to an arch wire-supporting bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,137A described an orthodontic instrument which is provided for attaching elastic retainer rings or bands to the brackets attached a patient's teeth.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,739A describes an orthodontic instrument which is designed for use by patients to help them to put and to remove the elastics on/from orthodontic hooks that are cemented on orthodontic brackets.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,818 describes an applicator for the placement of elastic bands on orthodontic appliances.
None of the above Patents gives a solution for the restraining device according to the present invention.